Older Adult Dementia Risk and Offspring Education in the United States

Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green OH

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

In the U.S., the number of older adults living with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) is increasing. Significant loss of memory and reasoning skills can destroy quality of life for the individual as well as their family members. However, education is a protective resource: Older adults with more education experience lower ADRD risk. The positive association between education and cognitive functioning also extends to the educational resources of family members. The education of adult children may be particularly important given demographic trends of increasing longevity, declining fertility, and less marital stability, all of which underscore the salient role of adult children in older adults’ family networks. This project will evaluate how, why, and for whom children’s education is related to the risk of ADRD among older parents. Using nationally representative panel data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this project has three aims. The first aim will compare various conceptualizations of offspring education. Whereas prior work has considered higher levels of children’s education as a health benefit, less is known about the meaning of lower levels of offspring schooling for parents’ health. In addition, assessing whether “threshold” (e.g., the education level of the highest or least-educated child) versus “cumulative” (e.g., the share of highly-educated children) measures of children’s offspring education better predict ADRD risk will help clarify how offspring education is correlated with parents’ brain health. The second aim will identify explanatory pathways (intergenerational support and parental health behavior and outcomes) between children’s education and parental ADRD risk. The project’s third aim will investigate whether the relationship between children’s education and parents’ ADRD risk differs across key subgroups, including by race, gender, and social class. This work will have a positive impact by vertically extending research on disparities to incorporate a family and life course perspective that focuses on the array of resources individuals draw on to protect and enhance their cognitive health in later life. Thus, the goals of this project align with the research priorities of the NIA described in its strategic plan for research on aging in the 21st century. Consistent with the R15 award mechanism, we will mentor and train undergraduate and graduate students in the research process where they will learn data management and analytical skills, writing and communication skills, and gain opportunities to present research findings locally, regionally, and nationally. This project will enhance the research environment at Bowling Green State University and help launch the next generation of population health scientists.